Phils cruise past Brewers after three-run first

MILWAUKEE — The Phillies wanted John Lannan to pitch Thursday night in Clearwater, but that was rained out. They have Carlos Zambrano prepared to go for Double-A Reading tonight, but the forecast seems damp for that game, as well.

Tyler Cloyd, meanwhile, keeps making enough sunny starts to make you wonder how you go about demoting him.

For the fourth time in his five starts as Roy Halladay’s understudy in the rotation, Cloyd gave the Phillies a quality start, this time working his way through seven shutout innings and taking advantage of early runs from the offense in a 5-1 win over the Brewers at Miller Park.

Clearly, at 2-4 with an 8.65 ERA in his seven starts with a shoulder surgery that followed, Halladay wasn’t himself. That didn’t mean Cloyd was a lock to be a significant upgrade in his place. Yet, if you were to put his numbers next to Halladay’s name to open the season, they would have been welcomed.

“I don’t think you can fill in for a pitcher with that status and how great he is,” Cloyd modestly said. “I just go out there and compete … and that’s been my main goal since coming up here.”

It was the second time in six days Cloyd faced the Brew Crew, and again Milwaukee’s sudsy lineup was a little flat against the soft-thrower.

“It’s a challenge for me,” said Cloyd, who evened his record at 2-2 and pushed the Phillies (31-30) above .500 for the first time in 2013. “I have to mix it up a lot, make sure I’m not using the same sequences that I had. I threw a lot of different pitches to hitters and kept them off-balance.”

“He pitched good,” Charlie Manuel said. “He took us to a good spot in the game. They didn’t hit the ball tonight like they did those three games in Philly. They teed off on us in those games.”

However, last time the Brewers were able to get the win over Cloyd thanks to their starter Wily Peralta, who gave up two runs in seven innings in Philly. This was a decidedly different Peralta, a couple of infield hits by Michael Young and John Mayberry Jr. to open the game seemed to throw him into a wild fit of frustration and general wildness.

The Phils got two runs in that first inning, the first on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Howard, the next thanks to a wild pitch by the hard-throwing right-hander that allowed Mayberry to score from third. The Phillies got another run in the second when Peralta walked Cloyd and Mayberry, continuing his hot hitting with a 3-for-5 night, slammed an RBI double to center.

Dom Brown, who had two more hits as his hot May continues to leak into June, singled in the third inning, then stole second and third before scoring on an Erik Kratz grounder.

This was plenty of Cloyd, who didn’t seem to have as sharp of stuff as his last start, yet kept getting Milwaukee’s sluggers to sky into outs, a handful of which came down at the warning track to waiting Phillies outfielders.

“It seemed that second time through the lineup they were going up there and try to hit the first or second pitch,” Cloyd said. “For me it was about making quality pitches and having a chance to get out of an inning with six pitches or less.”

Cloyd’s ERA dipped to 3.68, and other than one miserable outing he has kept the Phils competitive in his outings. And it seems difficult to change something that isn’t broken at the moment.

“I’m up here obviously to keep these guys in the game,” Cloyd said. “For me, that’s all I concentrate on – what I need to do in my next start, and mentally and physically prepare for the hitters.”